#1 Reason Your Tomatoes Are Not Ripening - How to Speed It Up
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ส.ค. 2018
- The most common question we get around tomatoes is "my tomatoes are slow to ripening" or "my tomatoes are not ripening" and there is a simple reason. You have too much foliage! Check out our new clothing line! http:www.freshpickedapparel.com
My favorite way to speed them up is to try not to look at them so much. Totally a "watched pot doesn't boil effect."
Guilty
Lol!!
Me too, but it's been 45 days of the same green tomatoes. 45 DAYS! I foolishly told everyone to stop buying tomatoes because we'd have billions coming in. Well, there are tons of them, sure, and _none_ of them are ripe. It's driving me crazy. I am going to fix this tomorrow using the advice to prune back the foliage at the bottom.
@@peterlamont647 I swear ~ this actually worked!! Within minutes we went out and trimmed below and within 2 days the color began to change in most tomatoes and its only getting better quickly! 🍅🍅
@@peterlamont647 Mine never ripen on the vine, once they are big enough, pick them green and put in a windowsill, they will ripen off the vine
Hey Luke, I totally agree to trimming some of the lower leaves from a tomato plant to prevent disease. However your tip on trimming tomato leaves to expose the fruit to more sunlight so they will ripen is not going to help and I will tell you why. Tomatoes ripen the fastest in temperature of 70 to 75 degrees. When temps rise into the mid 80's to 90's the ripening process slows down and can stop. Sunlight has no effect on tomato ripening, IN fact it can heat the tomatoes up to a level that stops color pigment synthesis, per Cornell University. I am copying an excerpt from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cornell University. Here it is, but there are more online if you want to look it up yourself.
With all of the hot weather we have experienced this summer, growers were expecting their tomatoes to ripen very quickly. Unfortunately, just the opposite is happening. Ripening seems very slow, almost like what we see in the autumn when temperatures are much cooler.
So what's happening? It takes six to eight weeks from the time of pollination until tomato fruit reach full maturity. The length of time depends on the variety grown and of course, the weather conditions. The optimum temperature for ripening tomatoes is 70 to 75F. When temperatures exceed 85 to 90 F, the ripening process slows significantly or even stops. At these temperatures, lycopene and carotene, pigments responsible for giving the fruit their typical orange to red appearance cannot be produced. As a result, the fruit can stay in a mature green phase for quite some time.
Light conditions have very little to do with ripening. Tomatoes do not require light to ripen and in fact, fruit exposed to direct sunlight will heat to levels that inhibit pigment synthesis. Direct sun can also lead to sunscald of fruit. Do not remove leaves in an effort to ripen fruit. Also, soil fertility doesn't play much of a role. We do know that high levels of magnesium and low levels of potassium can lead to conditions like blotchy or uneven ripening or yellow shoulder disorder. But the slowness to ripen is not likely due to soil conditions and adding additional fertilizer will do nothing to quicken ripening.
If you absolutely cannot wait, some growers will remove fruit that are showing the first color changes. These fruit, in the a mature green or later phase, could be stored at room temperature (70-75F) in the dark. A more enclosed environment would be best as ethylene gas, released from fruit as they ripen, will stimulate other fruit to ripen. If temperatures remain high outdoors, these picked fruit will ripen more quickly, perhaps by as much as five days. As far as flavor, the greener fruit should develop flavor and color similar to what you would get if field ripened. The key is picking them when they are showing the first signs of ripening (no earlier) and keeping them at room temperature. Do not refrigerate, as this will absolutely destroy their flavor.
The above pasted information is used from Cornell Cooperative Extension a part of Cornell University New York all rights reserved.
Check it out Luke.
Love your videos, Take Care,Stay Safe and God Bless You and Yours.
Mr. Tom
Deep South Bama with Mr. Tom - thank you very much! This is my first time growing tomatoes at 1600’. 4 Beefmaster & 4 Early 100’s. I thought I was doing something wrong, as my cherry tomatoes are ripening (slowly - with tiniest ones dropping off daily and a few larger, red ones dropping with wind, depending on how cold it gets at night) but my big “Beefmaster” ones are almost all still green, but chugging along nicely. I should be able to harvest at least a few orange ones by the end of the week. 🤞
So now I need to know: If it’s going to frost or snow overnight, should I try and pick everything and salvage? Or just let them take the cold & pick them after? Would overnight cold temps destroy their flavor, like putting them in the fridge? How cold could they get without damage/flavor loss? Soooo much to learn! Thanks! 🙂
If it was me I would go ahead and pick them, rather then leave them to the cold. The cold temperatures will change the texture as well as the flavor.
Thank you for sharing, that was very informative!
Deep South Bama with Mr. Tom
Thanks a 'bunch' pun intended🙄 just what i needed to know👍
Best answer of anything I've ever heard,thanks.
I have effective all organic approach to SCARING the tomatoes into ripening. I set a full bottle of KETCHUP next to the plant....
Haaaaaa🍅🍅🍅🍅
@Robin Rainville haha.... funny
If you really want to scare them Into ripening, put a bottle of oil next to them... "gonna fry you if you stay green!"
@@joanies6778 haaaaaaa...hilarious...🤪🤪🤪have a great day
Good one
I just want to remind everyone to not go over the top when defoliating since tomatoes that are exposed to too much direct sunlight can get sun-scalded. As said in the video, defoliating no more than 30% is a good rule to follow. Thanks for the great info, Luke!
Joseph Ku Agreed Joseph!
My 97-year old neighbour was once a member of the Royal Horticultural Society. Yesterday she asked to come over and show us exactly what you just did! My best plant is on our driveway, right opposite her window, so I can't get by with anything! 😀
As a first time gardener your videos have been a HUGE help. Keep up the great work!
Talk about perfect timing! My tomato plants have lots of tomatoes, they just seem to be slow at ripening
I will be trying this, thank you
Oh my gosh, I actually started doing this by accident on one plant! Because, again, the bottom leaves looked rough.. but nah, I trust you with my gardens life. Your my favorite source of information. So I'm definitely going to go give it a wing, i am grateful I didn't mess up my plant. But I thought, hey, its all about experimenting and learning right?
It's great when people get straight to the point! Thanks!
wow. I was JUST googling this for the past 2 hours and now you make this video?! Awesome timing, awesome youtuber!
I did this for the first time this year and it worked pretty well. Bigger yield, good ripening. Thanks
I work at a garden center in Northern Ohio and I want to commend you on a wonderful, entertaining and informative video! Great job!
This is the video is the one I've been looking for! I've seen a lot of videos on tomato plant pruning but none of them addressed the ripening part. I've seen your tomato plants and I knew you've pruned them like that but was waiting for you/someone to say "yes, do this".
Thanks for putting this out there again Luke! I keep seeingnfolks posting in gardening groups about why their tomatoes aren't ripening and I explain these same things about making sure to prune back the excess foliage to expose the fruit to sunlight. Many of them take too much pride in how lush and full their tomato plants look and refuse to prune at all then wonder why they have loads of growth little to no fruit and/or delayed ripening. Lack of light and airflow. Hopefully more people will see your video and won't be afraid to start snipping.
I went right out and did it 🤙I'll try and keep u posted. I found out I had a lot more tomatoes than I thought, like twice as many 😁👍
Thanks for the help! My garden in Marine city is thriving but I can't wait to have my ripe tomatoes, theres so many of them but they're all still green, great video! 😊 love seeing a fellow Michigan Gardener here on TH-cam, very cool!
I've had some pretty big tomatoes on the vine for almost three weeks that haven't ripened. I'm getting my pruning shears out right now! Thanks Luke
kari nichols We had that issue here in S. Oregon, until about 30 days ago. Now, they are ripening much faster that I can keep up with them. The canning equipment comes out tomorrow.
I think I'm beginning to be a real backyard gardener. I just did this before I saw the video. Starting to grasp the processes. Yes being proud right now. Thanks for the confidence. You and your family have an awesome day
Confidence is good!
First video of his I saw was on pruning zucchini and my zucchini plants are loving the result. Can't wait to get out and clean up my Amish Paste tomatoes. Keep it up. I need all the gardening advice I can get.
hi Luke, i ordered a bunch of seeds with your 50% off code two days ago and im so very excited about it (im in spain) my tomatoes are doing wonderful and i have to say, not without your help! thank you so much
Your so right. I prune my tomato plants often. They are doing fantastic. I've been harvesting, vine ripened for a while now. Sooo good. I'm with you, I'm not butching my plants. Just, thinning them out a bit.
I'm in VA, but we have a lot of the same issues with gardening. Thanks for your concise info
Amazing thank you. Loved how you don't start the video by asking for likes and subscribers but instead you finish an amazing video and then do it👌
I’ve kept my plants pruned since the plant picked up early blight. All of my 10 plants finally got flowers about a week ago and ever since I pruned the bottom 6” on my plants that are a foot and a half tall they’ve exploded! I took your advice from an older video about this and it’s done wonders! Plus, my high intensity lettuce container I did based off your video the whole pot exploded with seedlings this morning after just three days! Thanks for everything and can’t wait to have an amazing garden like yours some day!
I tried an experiment with two different beefsteaks this summer. One wasn’t really flowering and the other that I trimmed was already fruiting. Once I trimmed the other one they’re both fruiting. I’m still not pruning my cherries per TH-cam advice and they aren’t doing anything in terms of fruit.
Thanks for the great tip. Just got back in from pruning some of my tomato leaves (30%). Love your channel- great garden tips. From British Columbia, Canada.
@Luke: I really enjoyed your video demonstration. I just trimmed up my tomatoes yesterday but I might have been afraid to trim off too much. Thank you for sharing.
I always clip off the lower stems. This year I made cages with welded wire. I noticed the tomato plants are more confined with these cages. I was meaning to thin the plants but you know how the gardening season can be. Well, I started watching this video and told myself I'd better do it now. Didn't finish watching the video, went outside and got seven of my plants done. Tomorrow I'll finish. Thanks for the nudge!
Thank you for this video!!! I was thinking that maybe I should prune my plants but was confident in it. Guess what I'll be doing today!
Those plants look great! My Cherokee Purples started out beautiful, but now could really benefit from this. Under-leaves are browning, so its time to break out the clippers!
Thank you! This video arrives just in time! VERY helpful and important to me! I live in zone 5, and most of the tomatos are still small or green. I'm just worry about the weather getting shorter and cooler. Now I can bravely cut some leaves off. Thank you so much! Love your videos.
I did this just the other day incredible turn out!! 👍👍
You really give fruitful info. I like your channel so much. Even I'm far away in Seychelles I take a lot of your advice about planting. Thank you
I live in zone 3 of northern Minnesota so I have a short season. I prune suckers from early on, trim bottom branches that may touch the ground and thin foliage for better airflow to help prevent disease. As tomatoes set I start pruning new growth and limit new blooms so the plants energy can go to the existing tomatoes and they can ripen, otherwise I have huge plants and a ton of small green tomatoes in the fall 😏
I trim early as possible but in a limited fashion. Agreed, sunlight and airflow are crucial, however as a lifelong gardener I only trim as needed because over trimming takes away from the beauty of the plant. Which ( along with the fruit) is why I grow in the first place.
I'M ON MY WAY RIGHT NOW!! This is exactly the information I needed today.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, its been really helpful!
The last two years I have grown cherry determinate tomatoes. I don’t know if it’s was just a natural thing for me but I have taken off foliage both years. In Alaska I never grew them due to our weather. Since the weather has been warmer I can now grow them. I love it.
You are arming us with awesome much needed information, thank you so much! I really think this stuff is going to make a huge difference in my garden this year!
Thank you so much for this video. I came across it on my feed after subscribing to channel and I didn’t like I had this problem until watching videos and it makes sense why my cherry tomato plants are LOADED with green tomato’s again THANK YOU
Will be doing this tomorrow !!! Thanks for the advice 😁
Thanks for the tip! Very helpful! I’m going to do this today! I single stemmed mine like in your other video too.
I’m doing this for the first time this year. It makes sense so I’ll see. My tomatoes are just now beginning to turn red. I have also not allowed the vine to get out of control by staying on top of the suckers
Thank you fore taking time out of your busy day to teach and show us things you yourself have learn and now are willing to tell us ,so Thank you ,you have taught me alot and We appreciate it you .
I always enjoy your videos. Your knowledge is very helpful. Great job
Thank You...Perfect Timing...Yes This Is What I Am Dealing With! Heading To My Garden Now To Do YOUR Tips!!!
I was getting on here because my tomatoes are showing no interest in ripening and it’s mid July. This popped up on my feed (they can hear you 😂). Thank you so much. You’re right, I’m going right now and fix my bushy tomato plants.
Hoi Luke! You were right! I had a few that werent ripening. 2 weeks later and the plants are even showing new flowers and have ripening fruit. mmm. Thanks
One other tip for avoiding blight is to mulch under the plant so that rain doesn't splash soil up onto the lower leaves. The blight lives in the soil.
Thanks for the good info. Need all the help I can get.
Thanks for sharing this video, I pruned mine earlier and wasn't sure I done it right. By the way you showed, I should be ok! Thanks again and God bless!
In my experience, tomatoes ripen when they're warmer - as opposed to simply being exposed to sun light. All of the first tomatoes to ripen on my plants are well inside the plants (in deep shade). I calculated that this was so because at night, the temperature inside and under the foliage of the plants is warmer than the temperature on the perimeter of the plants...
...:"However your tip on trimming tomato leaves to expose the fruit to more sunlight so they will ripen is not going to help and I will tell you why. Tomatoes ripen the fastest in temperature of 70 to 75 degrees. When temps rise into the mid 80's to 90's the ripening process slows down and can stop. Sunlight has no effect on tomato ripening, IN fact it can heat the tomatoes up to a level that stops color pigment synthesis, per Cornell University"
I agree my ones,always ripen best within the Bush
@@saraandhughtuckey1284 A ripe tomato in the hand is worth 2 in the bush? lol
It sounds like tomatos simply ripen fastest when they're kept in the goldie locks temperature zone as long as possible...so the tomatos inside the bush stay in this zone longer (being warmer at night).
It's amazing how much disinformation is on TH-cam - Yet it's not pulled down because it doesn't effect politics for the left...
I use that other platform now...it sounds like
"jettr" only it starts with a 'G' instead. A much better place with more accurate information...
Another great tip.thanks luke.❤
Thanks for the tips. I haven't been able to find a good source for ripening tomatoes until now
So glad I watched this… great tip, thanks 🙏
Thanks MI Gardener! My question has been answered! 👍 I’m a newbie gardener!🌺
Lots of great info. Thanks
Great tips, thanks a ton ☺️
Great info!
I just did this over the weekend on my Early Girl. It’s something I’ve always done & it really works. I make sure all my fruit can catch some rays & that air is free flowing throughout the bush. Every time I prune like this, I get a flush of new fruits too! You are spot on as usual. Thanks for always sharing tried & true tips!
Thank you! Great info.
Growing tomatoes for the first time. I’m glad to have found this video.
Pruning around fruit also helps prevent accidents that drop some off. Always goid to see them and any local culprit pests.
Awesome! Thank you. Wishing you a lovely day x) 🦋
Thank god for your passion and content talent.
Love your videos. Thank you!
Awesome topic, thank you!
I went out and pruned my tomatoes even before I finished this video! I have over 30 green tomatoes on 3 plants that are big . The old leaves were so curled and damaged looking, I think I did it a great favor! Thanks!
How did this turn out?
Thank you so much, it worked! You save me every time.
Wow!
Great tip, wish I've seen the video yesterday 🙂.
I just asked you about this on another video, then saw this one lol! I’ve been thinning, but I’m going to try again. I love my tomatoes and the bushes are loaded with flowers and little green tomatoes, but I haven’t gotten much fruit this season. I hope it’s not too late.
clever idea,one of the best!
Great tip
very interesting. I am definitely going to try!
Great tip, I'll try it soon (as soon as the rain ends!)
I need to start doing this soon due to the high humidity and rain we've had in Michigan the last few weeks, which caused powdery mildew on my cucumbers and downy mildew on my green basil. I've taken care of those. But, thankfully, my tomatoes have been left unaffected.
I've been thinning my tomatoes out all summer, here and there, as well as trimming suckers off. But, every few days, I glance back at them and they have grown back up again and this is with fruit production going. Yet, only got a handful of ones ripe enough to harvest today. The new grape ones I have this year even just shoot off more suckers where I've already trimmed suckers off though. They are crazy happy. xD
Fantastic information! 🙏🏻🇨🇦 New fan! 👍🏻
I love this video ,an now lift the plants foliage,,,,an take the bottom leaves off ...thank u and appreciate all your informative videos .
That’s helped a lot. I will do this today!
That's excellent advice. I'm very liberal with the shears with my tomatoes. Not only because of the reasons you listed, but also because it seems to vastly increase wave after wave of new blossoms and fruits forming on indeterminate tomatoes, and seems to stimulate the plants into doing that. If someone asked me what's the best thing they can do for their tomato plants and to increase yields, I'd definitely say pruning.
I didn't know this thanks for the info!
I grew 4 different tomatoes this year. Garden Monsters,Gorrilla, Early Girls, and Roma. I started seeding in Marched. Planted in April. This is only my second year gardening. Very tight water irrigation drip system with Boogie Filters. California drought. Did my trimming as they grew. Crop looking great. Big yields of all. Beautiful garden. Got real bad water from well. So it’s not as yielding as it should. Can only filter out so much. (600 part per million contaminants. We can’t even drink it. Have to buy water. Even though we have a water filtering salt system. Killed my snap peas. But I’m still a rookie at this. Lots to learn still. Thanks for the vid.
Thanks MI Gardener! Going to try it now
Thanks for the info! What type of tomatoes are you showing and growing in this video?
Great information thanks
Well done! thank you.
Very helpful videos!...Thanks...
Thanks for the info.I was talking about this yesterday and this is the 1st video to show in my feed..... hmmm
Have you ever checked out the indeterminate tomato vines in the Land at Epcot? They are about 20 or so feet long! They trim the stems to the last ripening fruit and wind or lay down the stems below a rack that the tops are suspended from. It was cool to see how long they are and still growing.
I topped my plants of new growth and removed most of the blossoms on my San Marzanos to promote ripening and discourage more blossoms. We are about 4-6 weeks from our first frost date and they are growing like gang busters with a lot of green tomatoes. I do keep a healthy airflow by removing all stems below the fruit, plus any stems that grow inward and/or basically are not protecting a branch full of tomatoes. I also picked some that started to ripen so energy could go into the green ones. It's working. A lot more are ripening and the green ones are growing. I just don't feel a need to strip all the leaves. These San Marzanos appear to be a bit fragile, so I don't want to burn them in this scorching hot sun.
Beautiful tomatoes!♡
I enjoy all of your information. You are very knowledgeable. Here is my situation…
My tomato blooms are coming in & I am growing indoors. When is the best time to prune what I was told are “suckers” so my blooms can grow into full tomatoes?
Thanks man this gives me hope. Im watching my big green tomatoes like a hawk lol
Good one, practical
Thanks , I'll try that .
I'm going to go try this right now. I think this will help. I suscribed
Thanks Luke!
I planted some tomatoes back in March. I'm in zone 7. The entire month of July was above 90 degrees and not a drop of rain. Tomatoes are now sprouting and growing but they're green and splitting before they ripen and I don't know what to do. This is my first time planting heirlooms. Thankfully the plant leaves all look healthy and the stems look strong.
We get early blight every year so I prune the leaves up really early. Yields have been really great and I always open the plants up. Have more than we can keep up with so am even freezing this year. Thanks for the sound advice. I like your new intro. More classy and sophisticated 😉 does this work for peppers too??
I didnt truss this year. Soooo much foliage its crazy. Next year def practicing more control.
buck19 me too....... lol. It’s almost comical how out of control it can grow!! Def doing that next year too.
The Cornell study is spot on for me. My vines are loaded with nice sized tomatoes. However, we had cold 50’s nights until about two weeks ago, then it turned exceptionally hot. The Cornell study says that both conditions stop ripening. It is a way the tomatoes put themselves in a kind of suspended animation until with conditions change to the ripening range. The cold nights need to get up to at least 55-60, and the day temps need to reduce to 65+85. Then the tomatoes will ripen. Explains just our conditions this year in s. Oregon. Today was 105f.